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Map work

Medion Navigator's 2D maps are reasonably clear, with street names are written along the streets in question rather than horizontally. Places of interest are flagged too, but they, along with the street names, can be turned off in the Settings screen, if you prefer.

A nice touch is the tool bar, which can be minimised to leave more of the screen able to show the map view. There's also a 'night' mode, which some users may find easier to read at any time, let alone during the hours of darkness. Tapping on the map zooms out, and you can drag out an area into which the map will zoom. I'd have preferred a tap-and-drag scroll option.

Verdict

At £400 including VAT, the Medion MDPPC250 has to be one of the cheapest GPS systems available today. Yet a low price doesn't imply low quality. Neither Medion's PocketPC nor its navigation software are the best I've seen in either category of product, but they're not actually bad, either.

I personally prefer Navman's Bluetooth-based wireless solution, the 44xx, but at the same price as the Medion PDA plus GPS bundle, it's only economic if you already own a Bluetooth PDA. If you don't, you'll end up paying a lot more simple for the convenience of a wire-free cockpit.

Like the Navman package, Evesham's PocketPC GPS system offers better software than Medion's but it too is more expensive - by £50 - and the integrated GPS antenna is less suitable for in-car use, but unlike the Medion can be used by walkers.

But what Medion's offering loses on flexibility - wired vs. wireless or integrated GPS - it more than makes up for on price. We expect Halfords to drop the current £400 to £350 shortly, which will really put the bundle in a league of its own. ®